Snowed In
by katdvs
Summary: AU where Riley and Lucas are snowed in at DIA a few days before Christmas.


_**Author Note: Ooh, some fluffy Rucas College AU…think you're down for this?**_

* * *

 **Snowed In**

"Dad, Dad, Dad" Riley exhaled ready to throw her cellphone across the airport terminal, "Daddy, I know it isn't ideal, but snow happens. First flight I can get to New York I promise I'll be on it and I will text you the details. Christmas is three days away Dad, I'm not missing anything of importance…okay so I'm missing Auggie's Christmas concert, just film it on your phone…okay ask Farkle to do it. I know he's back in New York already, he got out last week."

Riley rolled her eyes as she looked around the terminal, her heart leaping when she saw the gorgeous guy sitting across from her staring intently. Normally she would be disturbed by the attention but this time she wasn't. "Dad, please I have to go before the food court shuts down, I'm starving I promise I will call when I have some actual news okay, bye."

The guy smirked as he looked down at his own phone. Something about him was familiar but she couldn't quiet place it.

Riley decided to ignore it and started to gather her things to carry with her to get some food when she heard a voice that sent a chill through her body.

"Farkle, no my flight's delayed, snow storm here in Denver."

She stopped looking up, watching his gaze fall on her as he smiled.

"Really Riley Matthews is stuck in Denver as well." He bit his lip, "I bet she's still cute, no wait I'm sure she's beautiful by now, breathtaking even, though she was all through middle school and high school."

Riley stared at him, who was this guy? How did he know Farkle, but she couldn't place him.

Rising she adjusted her bag over her shoulder, watching him watch her as he continued to speak on the phone, but she couldn't place who he was, and it was starting to make her mad.

"Naw, Riley wouldn't recognize me. She never looked at me then, she obviously thought I was just some dumb jock." He knew she could hear him, he knew she was curious, he'd always had a way of sensing things about her, but had always stayed away, afraid he'd have his eyes clawed out by her best friend Maya.

She stood in front of him, her arms crossed as she tried to figure out who this jock was that knew one of her best friends.

"Farkle I gotta call you back, I have to go get food before things shut down. I bet Mr. Matthews is going to be calling you soon." He hung up and took in the image of Riley in front of him; she had on a pair of skinny jeans, brown boots with a slight heel, a cranberry shirt, and a fleece vest with her college logo on it. "Hello."

"Who are you?"

He feigned surprise, "Damn Riley, you don't remember me?" He picked up his stuff as he moved around her, "I only sat behind you in almost every class since the seventh grade when I transferred to your school."

"No that was Lucas Friar, he was the most popular boy in school, and he never gave me a second glance after that day." Riley pushed her hair behind her ear.

"Oh I gave you a second, third, a million glances." He nodded towards the food court as they began to walk, "You didn't notice me, and God I wanted you to notice me."

"You were Captain of the baseball team, I noticed you." She bit her lip trying not to think about all the times she'd caught herself watching him in the halls and class.

"You were Student Body President, and Valedictorian—which Farkle is still pissed about three years later by the way, you would never have gone out with a guy like me, and your Pitbull let me know that freshmen year of high school."

"My Pitbull" Riley stopped, turning to look at him, feeling him gently collide into her, and suddenly her body was hot and flush with an energy she had never known before.

"Maya" he looked down into the espresso eyes he'd dreamed about for far too many years, "She told me to stay away, and she was scary, so I did."

Riley nodded, "She did that a lot, I'm pretty sure Charlie Gardner transferred schools after a run in with her. She thought she was protecting me, I don't think she realized she was inhibiting my growth."

Lucas took a step back trying not to let this obvious physical response to being so close to her scare her away, "Ahh, well I noticed you Riley Matthews, I noticed you every single day."

She looked down, "I noticed you to Lucas."

"But you didn't recognize me when I sat across from you today, now did you?" He smirked just a little in a way that Riley had always found adorable.

She took a step away and turned so he couldn't see her face, "I mean it's been three years Lucas, you are dressed a bit differently then you were back in high school."

Lucas looked down at his clothes, she was right. "Okay, so maybe I picked up a bit of the Colorado casual look, I mean you're dressed differently as well."

"Again, three years, things change." She looked around trying to decide where to eat, where she might be able to get something she could possibly save for later as well when she would inevitably get hungry later on.

Lucas watched her, "Come with me." He led her down the terminal to a sandwich shop, and proceeded to order them both large sandwiches, "Oh and two pieces of cake please."

"Cake?"

"I love cake." He confessed as they got rung up and he insisted on paying, "My Mom, God bless her is a total health nut, so when I can, I indulge the sweet tooth."

"How do you feel about apple pie?" She asked as they walked back towards their gate.

"Love it, haven't had a good one in a while." He confessed, "Why?"

"What are your plans for Christmas Eve?"

"Farkle is dragging me to some party, why?"

Riley stopped again, feeling his body collide into her and she heard herself gasp, "I um, how are you and Farkle so close?"

"Maya might have scared me, but Farkle didn't. He's one of my best friends." He didn't move away, being this close to her after so long on longing for it felt too damn good.

"And he invited you to the party he's going to on Christmas Eve, and you have no idea whose party it is?"

"Should I, please tell me he's not dragging me to Missy Bradford's because she's crazy Riley, I keep blocking her online and she keeps trying to catfish me or something, who has time to pretend to be someone else, it's exhausting enough just keeping up with my own stuff."

Riley giggled, "No, come on now, Farkle isn't that ridiculous. He's coming to my house."

"So he invited me to tag along with him this year?"

"Yeah, I guess so." She sucked in her lips, "We should find some seats we've got a long night ahead of us."

"That we do," He looked around, finding a spot near an outlet, "Oh come with me."

Riley felt the spark when he grabbed her hand and brought her over to the spot, and felt emptiness when he dropped her hand.

Lucas sat with his back against the wall, "We're going to be here all night right, might as well try and get comfortable. Come, sit."

Riley went to sit next to him.

"No, here" Lucas spread his legs into a V; "If you think I'm being fresh you're welcome to smack me."

"Tell me what you're thinking before I sit."

"I was thinking I could plug my laptop in to this nice outlet and we could maybe watch a movie I've got on my laptop or something, and it would be easier to do if you sat in front of me?"

"Okay, that might work." She put her bags down next to him and felt her body against his and her heart start to go clippity-clop as he set up the laptop, and pulled up the movies he had. " _Elf_?"

"What, I wanted to get in the Christmas spirit on the flight home."

"I think it's cute." Riley felt herself blush.

Lucas felt himself blush, "Thanks, so um let's watch that." He pulled out the earbuds and hooked them up, handing her one.

"Thanks" she breathed, before settling against his chest.

She hadn't meant to close her eyes, but she'd been oddly comfortable this close to him and had fallen asleep. When she woke up, she could tell it was early morning but that the snow had stopped.

As she studied everything around her, she saw that Lucas had everything close to them as his arms held her.

Riley listened to his heartbeat, the sound of his breathing for a while before he began to wake up.

"Hey Cowboy" she smiled, noticing the way his green eyes sparkled in that moment.

"Hey Princess, you nodded off just before the best part of the movie."

"Yeah, I guess I was comfortable."

"I'm glad."

"Are you okay, do you need to get up?"

"We probably should stretch, walk around a bit." He looked out the large windows, "Our flight will probably be soon."

"Yeah I guess it will be." She reluctantly pulled away, "So what seat are you in anyways?"

"25B, you?"

"25A, huh" Riley stood up shaking her hair, "God I must look a mess."

"You're beautiful, absolutely beautiful." He slowly stood up and then stretched. "You know we never ate last night."

As if on cue her stomach growled, "Want to see if we can find a table, I think we still have a few hours, the snow did just stop."

"I saw some just around the corner." He picked up not only his bags, but hers before taking her hand.

Riley couldn't believe how easily her hand fit in his and vice versa as they sat down and he unpacked the sandwiches they'd bought the night before. "So which school are you going to?"

"CU, pre-med, and you?"

"CU, but you knew that from my vest." She looked down, "Journalism."

"You've been at CU all this time and Farkle never once mentioned it huh?"

"Yeah I have, he never mentioned you being here."

"I guess he was waiting for us to run into each other, except he decided he couldn't wait any longer." Lucas chuckled, "So you think he's playing matchmaker?"

"Maybe, I guess we'll just have to wait and find out what he's up to." Riley shrugged.

Lucas opened his bottle of juice and studied her, "So should I wait to ask you out on a date after we find out what he's up to, or can I ask you out right now?"

Her heart fluttered, "You can ask me out whenever you want I won't stop you from asking."

"Tomorrow night the movie theater a block from our high school is showing _Home Alone_ and _Home Alone 2_ as a double feature, maybe you would like to go see them with me?"

Riley looked down for a moment, pretending to consider it before she looked up through her lashes at him, "I would love that."

"Great, it's a date, and I'm not telling Farkle about it at all."

"Neither am I." Riley blushed.

Not long afterwards the airport began to come back to life, and their flight began boarding. As soon as Riley and Lucas were seated, they held hands, spent most of the flight chatting, laughing over the random shared experiences they'd had at college and didn't even know it.

When they landed and made it to baggage claim Riley sighed, "So tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, tomorrow night" he sighed not ready to say goodbye to her as his fingers traced her hairline and he braved the moment kissing her.

She was on her toes and then in the air as they kissed, feeling his arms around her tightly as she was lifted off the ground.

When he put her back down he was sure about a lot of things, the most important being that Riley Matthews wasn't just some dream girl, she was exactly what he'd been needing and craving all his life. "I see your Dad; he doesn't look thrilled to see me."

Riley sighed, "Oh boy, he doesn't do well with any of my boyfriends."

"Is that what I am?"

"Not yet," she blushed, "We'll see how our date goes."

"Okay, I guess that's fair. I'll text you later." He pulled away as Cory came over to them, "Hello Mr. Matthews, good to see you again."

Cory took a moment, "Mr. Friar, I didn't realize you and my daughter were so close."

"Daddy stop," she looked to Lucas, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Count on it, Merry Christmas Mr. Matthews." Lucas nodded as he went to get his own bags.

Cory watched, "Damn it I thought I was in the clear from this."

"From what" she studied her father trying to figure out what he meant.

"That, him," he sighed, "I know how that story ends."

"Oh really Dad and how does it end?"

"You'll see, you'll see very soon how this all ends." Cory sighed knowing he'd just seen his daughter with her future husband, even if she might not know it yet.

"Whatever you say Dad" Riley went to the carousel and grabbed her bag off the conveyer belt before following her father out into the cold New York air, it had a gentle snowfall and she could still feel and taste Lucas on her lips and part of her knew that she was ready to feel that for the rest of her life if God was willing to allow it.

Maybe, just maybe being snowed in at the airport was the best thing to ever happen to her.


End file.
